This should settle the "coil spring" question

Ram4Sam wrote:
On the day I woke up and decided I wanted a new truck, my first look was at the 2500, figured that is all I needed. But I didn't want to buy the first year of the coil rear spring truck. I learned to shy away from first year models of anything, courtesy of the Ford Motor company many years ago. I stuck with old school thinking, leaf springs, didn't want to have to mod a new truck if the coils springs weren't up to my load situation. Good to see I was wrong.....

IB, I also saw that the 2014 2500 diesel powered trucks have an issue with the TPMS where any tire pressures under 60 lbs trigger the warning light for low tire pressure. Do the gas trucks having the same issue? That was another reason I went to a 3500......

Sam

I haven't messed with the tire pressures in my truck to see what pressure will set off the light. I would think it would be the same for the gassers as it is for the diesel.

The 2013 truck I was in had a "light load" button to prevent a low tire pressure warning when the tires were inflated to lower pressures for a more comfortable ride. Mine does not.

On the day I woke up and decided I wanted a new truck, my first look was at the 2500, figured that is all I needed. But I didn't want to buy the first year of the coil rear spring truck. I learned to shy away from first year models of anything, courtesy of the Ford Motor company many years ago. I stuck with old school thinking, leaf springs, didn't want to have to mod a new truck if the coils springs weren't up to my load situation. Good to see I was wrong.....

IB, I also saw that the 2014 2500 diesel powered trucks have an issue with the TPMS where any tire pressures under 60 lbs trigger the warning light for low tire pressure. Do the gas trucks having the same issue? That was another reason I went to a 3500......

Sam

That I did not know. I thought the 2500 Cummins used lead springs still. Good learning for APT today. :)

APT wrote:
Oh, sorry IB. The 2014+ Ram 2500 gas powered trucks have coil springs but not independent rear suspension. My mistake earlier.

I knew what you meant - hence the smiley :) BTW, the Ram 2500s all have the same rear suspension gas or diesel.

Oh, sorry IB. The 2014+ Ram 2500 gas powered trucks have coil springs but not independent rear suspension. My mistake earlier.

Also had one of those old Chev 2500s with the coil sprung rear, top heavy loads could be downright scary in turns.

I posted my reply before I saw the video and had a little chuckle when he said go straight down the road about the ford. I never ever drove a ford that went straight down the road.
chevman

APT wrote:
The problem with the half tons is the spring rate, not the type of spring. Ram just proves that with the 2500 gasser IRS with clearly higher rates and capacity.

an IRS on HD trucks would be a dream, but those setups would also be very pricey to build and maintain (lots of moving parts, bushings, etc). Look at all the Military trucks, lots of IRS and IFS made systems there with far higher payloads than our Civvy vehicles. I believe almost all of them are coil sprung, as well as the light rail vehicles in Portland and Seattle (those each weigh 15 tons).

APT wrote:
The problem with the half tons is the spring rate, not the type of spring. Ram just proves that with the 2500 gasser IRS with clearly higher rates and capacity.

Agreed, but some under educated folks don't understand the nuances of spring design. Oh, and my truck doesn't have IRS. It's still a solid axle :)

I'm not sure why there was ever concern. The RAWR of the 2500 is still less than the FAWR on a Ram 5500 (or Ford F550) which also uses coil springs. I've never seen a 550/5500 looking close to overloaded, even though builders are now putting 21' roll-back decks on them.

Even most rail-cars are coil-sprung now :)